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With one final test in the Mountains on Stage 20 of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana it proved to be a bridge too far for race leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant – Alpecin) as Fabio Aru (Astana) danced away with the red jersey. Meanwhile, Ruben Plaza (Lampre – Merida) went on the attack early and took out the stage with an awesome solo effort.
The early part of the stage saw a huge break away group form off the front of the peloton of around 40 riders with every team in the race represented out in front of the peloton. The riders who made the breakaway of the day were:
Sergio Henao and Nicolas Roche (Sky), Matteo Monatguti (Ag2r), Luis Leon Sanchez and Andrey Zeits (Astana), Alessandro De Marchi and Amael Moinard (BMC), David Arroyo, Pello Bilbao and Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural), Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Alex Cano and Carlos Quintero (Columbia), Carlos Verona (Etixx), Kenny Elissonde and Kevin Reza (FDJ), Larry Warbasse (IAM), Ruben Plaza, Valerio Conti and Nelson Oliveria (Lampre – Merida), Jasper De Buyst, Adam Hansen and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto – Soudal), Andrey Amador, Jose Joaquin Rojas, Francisco Ventoso and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Jaco Venter (MTN), Joe Dombrowski and Moreno Moser (Cannondale – Garmin), Yuliya Arashiro, Antoine Duchesne and Romain Sicard (Europcar), Alberto Losada and Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), George Bennett (Lotto Jumbo), Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff – Saxo) and Haimar Zubeldia (Trek).
It was probably surprising with such a big and powerful group away to see the peloton who for the early exchanges of the stage were under the control of MTN – Qhubeka and Giant – Alpecin allow the breakaway to gain such a large advantage.
However, the breakaway wasn’t working very well together either and with 118km to go, and three climbs remaining Ruben Plaza decided to launch an attack.
He quickly built an advantage of around 2 minutes over the chase group and their lack of collaboration meant Plaza wasn’t having to work all that hard to maintain a gap over them.
Meanwhile, the peloton didn’t look like they cared and the gap between them and Plaza had expanded to 13 minutes at one point without about 80km of the stage to go.
There were a number of occasions when the chase group would pull Plaza back to within a minute on the road, but then before you cold even start to think about a catch happening the gap would be on it’s way back out to two or three minutes. Plaza just kept to his guns and a steady tempo and held the chase group off.
Movistar at a point looked like they were getting organised in the chase group and caused a split, however it was very quickly brought back together.
Onto the second last climb and De Marchi attacked out of the chase group. The only one to go with him was Visconti from Movistar while Goncalves would ride strongly and catch them on the downhill before the final climb.
Back in the peloton, it was Astana who came to the front for Fabio Aru. They burned through their team mates before Mikel Landa hit the front and began what looked like a full lead out. With the pace he was setting, the peloton was whittled away to just 10 riders and Tom Dumoulin was put under the pump.
Heading over the top of the climb, Aru only had a couple of riders around him after leaving Landa and Dumoulin had lost half a minute. On the descent though, Landa managed to catch Aru and the two men in the breakaway, Sanchez and Zeits waited and came back for Aru.
Despite the best efforts of Dumoulin he was not able to make the junction to Aru on the descent and if anything lost time ending up starting the final climb of the day 1 minute down.
Back at the front of the race, Plaza was continuing with around a 90 second gap and De Marchi was in a desperate attempt to lose his compatriots which he did on multiple occasions, only to be caught again.
Eventually, Visconti would be dropped and De Marchi along with Goncalves rode away with the final places inside the top three, finishing over a minute behind what was an incredible effort from Plaza.
Astana would decimate the final climb before Nairo Quintana attacked with Rafal Majka. Aru and his team mates were able to follow, and he along with Joaquin Rodriguez would lose over 45 seconds on the line, Rodriguez almost losing his second place in the overall standings.
In the end an awesome effort from Plaza, heartbreak for Dumoulin and Fabio Aru barring a crash will win the 2015 Vuelta a Espana.
The penultimate stage of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana is upon us, and by the end of the day we will have the winner of this year’s race. On a day set for high drama with a number of big mountains, join The Roar for our live coverage from 10:15pm (AEST).
With Tom Dumoulin (Giant – Alpecin) in the red jersey by just six seconds the race could have one huge final twist on the 175.8 kilometres from San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Cercedilla.
Four category one climbs greet the riders, with only the flat run into Madrid to come tomorrow.
While the first climb to Puerto de Navacerrada doesn’t officially start until the 20-kilometre mark, the riders will already have some tough, gritty uphill racing before that.
The climb is 9.4 kilometres in length and after a fairly gradual start with gradients between 2 and 5 per cent, it then goes up to over 8 per cent, before the final kilometre ramps up to over 11 per cent. It’s a tough start to racing.
A long, gradual descent follows before a short, flat section and then the second category one climb of the day to the Puerto de la Morcuera. This climb is fractionally longer, at 11.5 kilometres, but for the most part is a lot more gradual, with only a few challenging sectors early in the climb.
Another long descent of about 20 kilometres follows before the riders go through the feed zone for the day Soto de Real after 85 kilometres.
Following that there will be more undulating terrain, then about six kilometres of uphill riding before the third climb starts – another crack at the Puerto de la Morcuera.
This climb is just over 10 kilometres in length, with the gradient over seven per cent after the first two kilometres – it could pave the way for a long-range attack.
After a short, steep descent comes the intermediate sprint after 141.5 kilometres and then the final climb of the 2015 Vuelta.
The Puerto de Cotos is an 11-kilometre climb, and while the average gradient is low, that’s due to the first 4 kilometres hardly even being climbing, making for a steep and challenging final six kilometres, which will test all.
The riders then have a steep and fast 10-kilometre descent to the finish line. The risks taken here could be extreme and just like that someone’s race could be over.
The biggest question coming into this stage is whether Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) can hang on to his overall lead. Fabio Aru (Astana) is snapping at his heels and looks to be in solid form. Today could just break Dumoulin.
The only other half chance at the red jersey is Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha). He will undoubtedly go for the stage win and then see what happens with the overall situation.
Other riders to watch out for include Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Esteban Chavez (Orica-GreenEDGE), Mikel Nieve (Sky), Louis Mientjes (MTN-Qhubeka), Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r), Frank Schleck (Trek), and Pierre Rolland (Europcar).
Prediction
Aru will try everything and should crack Dumoulin at the final hurdle with Madrid in sight. The stage win might go to a breakaway today. Watch for an early attack from the Movistar duo of Quintana and Valverde.
Join The Roar for live coverage of Stage 20 in the 2015 Vuelta a Espana from 10:15pm (AEST) and don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re following along.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde